


How To Be Happy

by MrQuizzaciousCatKid



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, First Kiss, Kissing, M/M, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:06:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23660530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrQuizzaciousCatKid/pseuds/MrQuizzaciousCatKid
Summary: Armin lives life on a green-screen. He knows he's missing something. That his whole world could be better spent. Happier even... But it isn't. Armin is sad.Maybe that can change...Armin's parents recently went on a long trip, and he now lives with his grandfather in a little mountainous town without any cars. His uncle's house is about a block away, and when he went to visit, he met his cousin who has a strangely painful sense of humor.He's going to start his Freshman year in this town, and he was expecting a normal high school...Well, the high school in this town peaked in the 1850s. But the boy he sits next to- Armin finds him especially interesting.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager
Kudos: 8





	1. Dinosaurs

**Author's Note:**

> This is a kind of rushed first chapter. The purpose is to introduce an original character.

_What is it about me? Who am I? What the hell am I doing here? Is this even real? Are these feelings real? Is anything real? I often think that this is all in my head. That nothing I am aware of… is real. I could be alone with my mind, living in the matrix, completely oblivious to true reality. But whether or not any of this is true, I’m still sad. Every time I look in the mirror, I see a stranger staring back at me. He asks, “Who are you?” I reply with, “ I don’t know.”_

I decided not to write any more for today. I was already tearing up. Why do I write like that anyway? I am planning on meeting my uncle, aunt, and cousins later today. Grandfather said that I have three cousins; one of which is the same age as me. Well, she is already fourteen years old, and I won’t be fourteen until November, but we are both starting our freshman year so we’ll be in the same class at school. But, who knows what school is like in this town. This whole area is strange.

Traveling here was a huge struggle. There is no airport anywhere close by, so when I landed several cities away, I had to take a three-hour bus ride- with all of my luggage. After the bus ride, I had to walk to Grandfather's house- with all of my luggage. Why he didn’t pick me up doesn’t matter because I would have had to walk anyway. There are absolutely no cars in this town. Nobody owns one because it is pointless. The roads are unfit for driving on. So, yeah.

It’s been three days since I moved in. I was sitting on my bed, writing in my journal, but I decided to stop and stare at my two closets and my built-in desk in the middle. I was planning on going to my uncle’s house at 3 p.m. I already knew the address. I just had to ride my bike for a block. Grandfather gifted me with the bike when I first arrived; he told me that I would need it to get places. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 3:15. I put on my shoes and left my bedroom, leaving the door open. I went downstairs and looked around. I didn’t see Grandfather anywhere. I figured he was probably in his room playing Candy Crush on his tablet, or watching the news- the two things he always does when nothing else is happening.

After a five-minute bike ride down a bumpy road, I reached the house. I started walking up to the porch when I noticed the neighbor. He was short, he had black hair, he looked like he was maybe in his thirties. He was reading a letter in front of his door. After a few seconds, he went inside with it.

I rang the doorbell. No answer. I waited a minute and rang it again. No answer. Maybe it was broken? I knocked on the door. As the door was opening I tried to look more content and not so nervous. A girl opened the door. She had a stoic expression on her face, despite her big green wide-open eyes. She was wearing black glasses with lenses the size of cookies. Her hair was a long, blonde, loose, french braided mess. I noticed a scar across her left cheek, and there were multiple scars on her left hand.

“Oh, Hey,” she said, “Are you Armin?”

“Yes.” I was very nervous and didn’t know what to say. She didn’t seem too nervous though.

“I’m Astrid. I’m your cousin,” She opened the door wider, “Come inside.” I walked into the house and looked around. A little blonde boy was coloring on the coffee table. He immediately noticed me and ran up and hugged me around my waist. I nearly fell backward. Astrid told me his name was Daniel. Daniel looked up at me.

“I love you, Armin.” He was so cute. And he loved me already? We just met! His parents had probably been telling him about me forever. Wait, where are they? Astrid immediately answered my question.

“Mom forgot about her psychiatry appointment, so she had to leave at the last minute. Dad went with her so neither one of them is here today. Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” I said, as Daniel left and ran to the coffee table again. I decided to change the subject, “So, I noticed that the doorbell doesn’t work.”

“The doorbell?” Astrid looked at me and smirked, “That outside the door is just a button. There is no doorbell.” She chuckled a little. She looked much different than she did earlier. She started leading me down the hallway. “Come on, check out my bedroom.” We passed by a door that Astrid told me was Amelia Lynn’s room, and not to go in there.

“She might come out later,” Astrid told me. When I walked into Astrid’s room, I learned something about her: she likes dinosaurs. A lot. She had pictures of dinosaurs on her walls, multiple dinosaur-related decorations around the room, she had books about dinosaurs on her bookshelf (not all of the books were about dinosaurs but many were), she even had a whole table with toy dinosaurs arranged on it. I noticed a certain arrangement there: one brontosaurus on top of another brontosaurus.

“I know what you’re thinking, Armin,” Astrid said, “I’m a bit of a nerd about dinosaurs, and I see you’ve noticed my brontosaurus friends. They're having a piggyback ride.”

“Oh, that's what is happening here,” I said, “I didn’t know they did that.”

“It’s crazy, right?” Astrid sighed. Trying not to be awkward when meeting a cousin for the first time is hard. I feel like we are hitting it off, though. But it still feels strange. Astrid walked closer to me. “Hey, I know you’re nervous, but you don’t have to be. We’re family. If we were not, would I be able to do this?” She reached under her bed and grabbed a small skillet.

“What are you doing?” I was super confused up until the moment she bopped me in the head with it.

“Not the Momma!”

“Ow!”

“Ha! I love that show.” Astrid laughed long and hard. I wasn’t laughing- that kind of hurt. She didn’t hit me hard at all, but still.

“You are going to have to get used to me,” Astrid stopped laughing, “I’m going to visit you all the time, and when school starts, we’re going to be in the same class. School starts in two days. You’re from the city so this school is going to take a whole lot of getting used to for you. I’ll tell you more about it when the time comes.” She sat on her bed quietly. "Sorry if that hurt. I was just messing around."

"It's okay, I guess...How come you have a skillet under your bed?” That’s something I was wondering at the moment.

“It’s mostly in case of emergency. Intruder alert. That sort of thing. But, today, it was for bopping you on the head.”

* * *

Honestly, I kind of like Astrid (even though she hit me with a skillet). My uncle and aunt came over eventually so I met them for the first time. I am not going into detail about them until a later date. Amelia Lynn never came out of her room, so I still haven’t met her yet. Maybe one day.

This entire new life is going to take some getting used to. I miss my parents. They were not clear about where they were going or how long they would be gone, only that I would be out of high school by the time they get back. Maybe I can learn to be comfortable here. To be happy. Oh, but come two days, I am in for a real surprise.


	2. Right Up The Mountain

_What is it about me? Who am I? What the hell am I doing here? Nobody can know the way I truly am. My appearance doesn’t reflect the way I truly feel inside. Everyone thinks I’m fine but I am a lonely ghost trapped inside a fake happy shell. My body is a prison. Prison of white walls. The lights are always on- nobody ever comes inside._ I fell asleep after writing that.

It was the night before school started. I was expecting a normal high school. That's not what I got.

“Hey, Armin, wake up!” I was instantly startled awake. I saw Astrid standing next to my bed.

“Astrid? What are you doing here?” I noticed she was wearing her school uniform.

“It’s time to get ready for school. Come on! Get out of bed. You’re burning daylight!” Astrid opened my left closet and searched through it. I looked out my window and saw that it was night. I then looked at the clock and saw that it was 4 a.m.

“It’s four in the morning,” I said sleepily, “Do I _have_ to wake up so early?”

“Yes, Armin! You need all the time in the world to get to school. You better wake up. It’s gonna be a long bike-ride up the mountain,” Astrid tossed my uniform on my bed, “Put this on.”

“Did you just say I have to ride my bike up a mountain?”

“Yes, the classroom is on top of the mountain. What did you expect?” Astrid smirked. I've noticed that she does that a lot.

“Well, I kind of expected the school to be on level ground.”

“Wow! You’re about to step _way_ out of your comfort zone. Now get dressed. I’ll leave the room” Not only does she smirk a lot, but Astrid is also bossy too. When I finished getting dressed and I had stepped out of the room, this is what she ordered.

“Now, get in the bathroom, brush your teeth, wash your face, comb your hair. Come on!” I was so tired. All I could think about was sleep. By the time I went downstairs, Astrid was already down there with a cup of black tea on the table.

“Come sit down and drink this tea. It will wake you up.” I sat down and started drinking it. “ What do you want for breakfast? I’ll make it for you.” Astrid was still rushing a little. I wasn’t that hungry.

“An apple, I guess.”

“Do you want me to slice it for you?”

“You can. It doesn’t matter to me.” I yawned. Astrid grabbed a knife and a cutting board and began slicing an apple.

“There’s a lot you need to know before starting school here,” Astrid said, “First of all, I should explain the arrangement of the class. The Freshman class is on top of Turkey Mountain. You don’t have to worry about that, because Turkey Mountain is just a really big, steep, wooded hill. The class is just a building with one classroom. The entire Freshman class is within that classroom. The teacher is the only one there, and he or she teaches all courses.” Astrid finished slicing my apple and served it to me on a plate. According to Astrid, this school takes old fashion to a whole new level. A one-classroom school building? Like a mid-1800’s school. And the entire Freshman class fits in one classroom. That is a very small Freshman class. Astrid continued.

“Each desk is big enough for two students. Boys sit with boys, and girls sit with girls. The teacher will probably give us an assigned seating arrangement so that it is easier to take attendance. Here are some basic rules,” At this point, she was already packing a lunch for me. How come she decided to be so helpful all of a sudden? She was still rushing, so she probably just wanted to get everything done.

“Never have your phone in sight inside the school building. If the teacher sees it you will not get it back for, like, the rest of the school year, so…” I was shocked,

“You’re kidding!” Astrid answered with a very nonchalant-

“Yes, I’m kidding,” she just shrugged.

“Oh,” I looked down at my plate of apple slices and took a bite out of one.

“But, still, don’t have your phone out in the classroom. The consequences for it depend on the teacher but no matter what, it is usually embarrassing. Another thing, you have to be in your seat by 7:30. If you are not, you are counted absent. Another thing, you are going to bring a bag that contains your textbooks and other supplies. When you bring it into the classroom, put it under the desk. Not in front of the desk, or behind the desk, or next to the desk. _Under_ the desk.” She put my lunch on the table for me.

“Thank you for the lunch,” I said

“You’re welcome. Oh! And speaking of lunch, there are some things you need to know,” Astrid sat down at the table next to me, “This school doesn’t have a cafeteria and you can’t buy lunch there, not that you would want to. So if you don’t pack lunch, you don’t eat. All-day. Another thing, you can’t eat in the classroom, so when you walk in, put your lunch on one of the shelves next to the door. Break period is the only time you get to eat lunch,” Astrid paused and stared back at me, “You can ask questions, you know.”

“I don’t have any,” I told her, “You are explaining everything for me.” I already had a kind of clear(er) idea of what to expect.

“Okay then, now I will tell you a bit about the break period. In the middle of the school day, at 11:00, there is an hour-long break period, where we go outside and eat lunch at the tables, or do whatever, we just can’t leave campus, and we can’t go inside the classroom. Restrooms are separate from the classroom so we can use those. We can also have phones out because we are not in the classroom.” Astrid glanced at the clock. “Oh, it’s time to go,”

Astrid got up and went to the door where both of our book-bags were. I grabbed everything and followed her out the door. And then I remembered that I would be riding my bike up a mountain.

“Astrid! Wait, I’m going back inside to get a water bottle.”

“Don’t bother, they’re not allowed at school, water will be provided when you get there. Come on! Hurry! Get on your bike.” I got my bike out of the garage and got on. Astrid’s bike was at the front gate. “I’ll show you the way, follow me!” And then she was already several feet ahead of me. I pedaled faster to keep up.

Cycling to the mountain was tiring enough, especially because I was already tired. I was running out of breath going up. I felt like my legs were about to collapse. I eventually saw some other kids going up the same trail. They all seemed completely fine and not super tired like me. I honestly felt like it was never going to end.

At about 7:15, I finally reached the classroom. It was in a small clearing near the top of the mountain. The building had a cute, little cabin type feel. There was a smaller cabin on the far right side, which I assumed was where the restrooms were. There were some picnic tables on the left side of the classroom. There was also a place where bikes can be parked. I parked mine there.

“Hey, kid,” said a voice from behind me. I turned around and saw who I assumed to be the teacher standing there. “You’re the one who just moved here right?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Allow me to introduce myself, I am your teacher, Ms. Zoë. I prefer to be called Hange, though.”

“I’m Armin, it’s nice to meet you.” Me, trying to be as polite as possible because I don’t know what Hange is capable of.

“Pleasure to meet you, Armin,” She shook my hand, “Well! You look tired and thirsty. Do you need a drink?”

“Yes, Please!”

Hange led me to the porch of the cabin where she picked up a large bucket. She then led me to a pump on the other side of the building. “This is where we get water every morning. Probably not what you’re used to…” She placed the bucket under the pump. I just silently stared at it. “But, trust me it’s a hell of a lot better than the sink water. I’ve tried it and, man, does it taste like shit! Way too much calcium.” Hange stared at me for a little while, “So, are you going to pump out the water or what?”

I started pumping out the water. I was thirsty. After the bucket was full Hange carried it inside and I followed. As I walked into the classroom I placed my pack lunch on one of the shelves, as Astrid had instructed me to do. I followed Hange around a corner that led into the classroom area. Some students were already sitting in their seats, and some were not sitting down, but overall the students were very noisy. There were double-desks as Astrid had told me and there also appeared to be a seating arrangement. Every desk had a name on it. I read the names to myself, so I can hopefully learn them. Jean Kirstein sits next to Marco Bott, Connie Springer sits next to Carl Jens, Mikasa Ackerman sits next to Sasha Blouse, Astrid Arlert sits next to Annie Leonhart, Bertolt Hoover sits next to Reiner Braun, Ymir sits next to Historia Reiss, and I sit next to Eren Yeager, who was not sitting in his seat.

Hange placed the bucket of water on a short table. “Okay, everyone, water is now available!” I was still standing next to her.

“Could I have a cup Hange?” I asked her because she didn’t provide me with one.

“I don’t have any _actual_ cups,” Hange replied, “Just make one out of a sheet of paper. That’s what all of the others do.”

Well, I guess it’s great to improvise. Students were already at the table, folding paper and using a ladle to pour water into their folded paper cups. I took a piece of paper and did the same after I had watched how they folded it. It felt so good to drink water after so long. I drank several cups of it. I don’t know how I am ever going to get used to cycling up a mountain every day. And then cycling back down…

“Everyone sit in your seats! I’m taking attendance!” Hange yelled because it was so loud. I was already sitting in my seat at this moment in time, reading a book (a dystopian novel about a naive lower class getting taken advantage of by their corruptive government).

“Hey,” I looked up and saw a boy standing on the other side of the desk, “You must be Armin.”

“I am,” I told him, closing my book, “And you’re Eren?”

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carl Jens is another Original Character.


	3. "but I wouldn't have done it that way."

“It’s nice to meet you, Eren,”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Eren said nervously as he sat down next to me. He looked at his desk for a second, and then looked up at me. “I noticed your last name is Arlert. Are you related to Astrid?”

“Yes, she is my cousin,” I told him.

“So,” Eren started, “Where are you from, Armin?”

“I had been moving all over the place before I moved here. My parents like to travel a lot. Recently, they went for a long trip and had to leave me behind so I could stay in school.”

“Do you live with Astrid now?”

“I live with my grandfather about a block away from Astrid’s house.”

“Oh,” Eren sat back on the bench, “Living here is probably much different than places you've lived before. This little town is not like most places.”

“You can say that again. In every place I have lived there were cars.”

“I have heard that people usually drive everywhere in most places. I’ve seen cars in pictures, but I haven’t ever seen a car in person. I’ve never traveled outside to see one. I’ve only ever been in this town my whole life.”

“Really?” I was quite surprised to hear that.

“My dad’s clinic is the only one in town, so he has to be there all the time. We don’t have time to travel anywhere.”

“That’s shocking, I can’t believe you have never seen a car before.”

Hange walked up to the podium in front of the chalkboard, “ Everyone, quiet down!” The room was still very loud so Hange had to yell again (not in an angry way, she just had to talk louder than everyone else), “BE QUIET!”

Every student in the room shut up after that one.

“Okay. Now that I have your attention,” Hange started, “Welcome to high school, everybody! Aren't you all excited?” She waited for a response but nobody said anything, so she just started talking again, “I’m your teacher, Ms. Zoë. You can call me Hange.” Hange wrote her name on the chalkboard. She wrote Hange, not Ms. Zoë. While still standing at the chalkboard, she continued, “Among all the boring shit you have to learn in high school, there are also a lot of fun things. My goal as your teacher is to teach you everything you need to know in the most fun way possible.” Hange wrote some more on the board:

7:30-8:43: Interpersonal Studies 1

8:45-9:55: Biology

9:57-11:00: Algebra 1

11:00-12:00: Break Period

12:00-1:04: Health

1:06-2:18: Modern History

2:20-3:30: English 1

“This is your daily schedule for your Freshman year. Not all of the courses are my favorite, but…” Hange pointed at the top of the list, “As you can see, the day starts with Interpersonal Studies. This is a course you have to take every year before you graduate. It teaches you how to form healthy relationships, social skills, and how to function in the world after high school… that sort of thing. That starts right now.” She walked up to the podium and pulled a textbook off of a shelf inside of it. “Okay, section one is about improving interpersonal skills-”

That wasn't a very interesting part of the school day. Let’s skip to Algebra 1.

* * *

“Okay, everyone, it’s 9:57. You know what that means!” Hange was still excited after Biology. She didn’t teach us much though. She was supposed to teach us about cellular structure but she ended up telling us about the ants she had been collecting and doing experiments on, which I thought was interesting. I should ask her about that sometime. “It’s time for Algebra 1.”

I opened my notebook and got a pencil. Then I looked at Eren and noticed he was staring at me.

“What’s the matter, Eren?”

Eren looked down at his desk, “Nothing, I was just looking out the window.”

There was a window on the other side of me so I guess he could have been…I went back to listening to Hange. “The first thing you are going to learn about in this course is expressions and variables. It’s quite easy.” She wrote on the board:

5 ⋅ x + 3

“This is called an algebraic expression. The x is the variable in this expression, and as you learned in pre-algebra, a variable is a letter that represents unspecified numbers…”

This is eventually what the lesson turned into:

“I don’t understand Hange! How can you know the value of an unspecified number?” This was Sasha Blouse, the girl sitting next to Mikasa in the front row.

“Sasha, 28 is the answer if x=5,” Hange was giggling a little, which was weird in this situation, “If x equals something else, there would be a different answer!”

“That just makes it harder to understand!”

Connie, who was also sitting in the front row, was looking very confused. “Is there an easier way to do it?”

“I believe this is the easiest way, Connie,” Hange said, “But it’s possible to make up an amassment of harder ways!”

“That doesn’t help me!”

“Hey, Armin,” I turned and saw that it was Eren talking to me, “I was wondering if you would want to sit with me during the break period. We could talk some more and maybe get to know each other a little better. We are going to sit in the same seat every day now, so we should become friends, right?”

“Sounds like a plan,” I replied. I watched Eren’s pretty, green eyes brighten. I wish my eyes were happy like his.

“Connie, do you get it now?” Hange asked.

“Yes,” Connie said, “but I wouldn’t have done it that way.”

Hange looked at the clock, “Oh, would you look at the time! It’s break period! Everyone, GET OUTSIDE!”


End file.
